(For the Chronicle/Gary Fountain, October 3, 2013)
Liudmyla Monastyrska as Aida, working with director Jose Maria Condemi during rehearsal of Houston Grand Opera's production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida"

(For the Chronicle/Gary Fountain, October 3, 2013)
Liudmyla Monastyrska as Aida, working with director Jose Maria Condemi during rehearsal of Houston Grand Opera's production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida"

Photo: Gary Fountain, Freelance

Quotable: 'Aida' all around us

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José Maria Condemi, who is staging Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida" for Houston Grand Opera, thinks the story of lovers who come from enemy countries could have real-life parallels amid today's civil wars and battling factions.

"With what we see in Egypt or the Middle East, it's not a stretch of the imagination to figure a story like the one in 'Aida' is happening there right now. … That struggle between humanity and duty, and between love and country - it's still happening."